Are all snow stories kinda the same?

We get a lot of snow in Newfoundland and Labrador, soin the news, we do a lot of snow stories.

I've been a TV reporter in St. John's for 13years, and in that time, I have filed approximately 9,000snow stories.And while every snowflake is unique and special, every snow story is not.

Perhaps this is not exactly news to you.

When a news anchor leads off withsomething like, "Another snowstorm is hitting the province"or talks about the white stuff maybe"pounding the province" or even"walloping the province" and wereservewalloping for the really big onesyou're probably able to imagine what you're about to watch.

Perhaps it looks a little something like this

Shovellers

People out shovelling their properties is anessential ingredient theonions, if you will,of the recipe for a TV snow story.

They can beseasoned veterans of our harsh wintersor new arrivals who have never held a snow shovel in their lives. Ideally, they should look like they're working hard, but with a grin-and-bear-itdisposition.

Pedestrians

There's nobody more miserable in a snowstorm than someone who has to walkin it.

And seeing the pedestrian's plighton TV really puts into perspective how lucky you are to be inside, or in a vehicle.

Bonus points if someone wipes outhard enough to be funny, but not so hard as to hurt themselves and make you feel bad. It's a special balance the souffleof the weather story.

Plow driver

Shovellers and walkers are easy to come by, but the elusive plow driver isharder to score an interview with, because on snow days, they tend to be busy.

Still, the plow driver is definitely a recurring character in the snow story.

On rare occasions, the entire story will focuson the plow driver and their noble, solitary quest. But more often, the plow driver pops up briefly, lending a professional contrast to the shoveller'samateur antics.

Cute kids

There's one sure way to wrap up a snow story: a dusting of cute kids.

Sliding on a hill, building a fortor, as in a recent viral tweet,collapsing into the snow from sheer exhaustion and the crushing emotional anguish that is the Canadian winter.

When in doubt: props

Maybe the reporter assigned to cover the storm story is out of ideas, or maybe the producer wants to see something different or maybe it's just the fifth storm in aweek and you've already featured every shoveller, walker and plow driver in the city.

That's when we start scraping the barreland reach for the props.

A wind meter (ananemometer if you're a fancy-pants meteorologist) is the go-to if you're trying to look serious and scientific but you can't pull it out of the drawer for each and every snowstorm.

In mydesperate attempts to convey snowiness, I have used every gadget we had in the newsroom. Measuring tape? Did that last week.

Using a bathroom scale to weigh shovel-loads of snow? That's a good one, andit gets the shovellers involved.

And every once in a whilemaybe once in a reporter's entire career you come up with an angle for a weather that is actually original, like that time I went ice skating down a frozen sidewalk in 2009.

That's snow business, baby

This isn't about mocking news coverage of snowstorms, andI'm not even saying any of this is bad.

Every genre has its conventions if you'rereading a detective novel and there isn't a murder by page three, you'd wonder what was going on, wouldn't you?

Of course, it will soon snow again, and this reporter will be back out there, camera in tow, prop in hand, in pursuit ofthe nearest shoveller.

When you live in a place where snow dominates your life for six months of the year, that's kind of the way it is.

It's like the weather: Nouse complaining about it you've gotta learn to love it.

Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador